Bears fall to Lancers in NOSSA

Story by Todd Vandonk

The St. Joseph Scollard Bears dropped a 5-1 decision Tuesday night against #1 ranked the Lasalle Lancers from Sudbury. Lasalle dominated play for the full 60 minutes proving why they are the team to beat this week at the 2006 NOSSA boys ‘AAA’ hockey tournament being held at the Memorial Gardens.

Lasalle’s Mike Andrighetti needed only 2:28 to solve Bears goalie James Demarco. Andrighetti capitalized off a pass from Cory Jerome, which deflected off a Bears defender. The high powered offence would strike again later in the frame on the power when Lucas Faganely beat Demarco from the point with a hard slap shot that went high glove side to sound the siren. The NDA champs looked overwhelmed in the first being out shot 16-2.

“Lasalle is very good club and are the favorites coming into the tournament. They came out hard and got us back on our heals. This made it tough to get any momentum back,” said Bears Coach John Wilson.

Lasalle ran into penalties troubles in the second but the Bears failed to score on four power play chances.

“That was surprising. Our power play has been our bread and butter as of late. We have to move the puck around and get some body’s out front to bang in loose pucks,” said Wilson.

Lasalle took advantage of the local’s struggles in the second period and added two more tallies to break the game wide open. On the power Lasalle’s Shane Neeley netted his first of two on the night. Neeley received a hard pass from the corner and one timed the puck short side, while falling to his knees to make the score 3-0. Kurtis McNamara made it four nothing, banging in a point shot that came off the back boards.

In the third the teams traded special team goals. First, Lasalle’s Neeley beat Demarco with a weak shot between the legs, while killing a penalty, for his second of the night. Bear’s Paul Traynor added a goal late in third to break Lasalle’s Devin Desgardins shutout. Traynor picked up a rebound while on a 5-3 advantage and stuck it upstairs over Desgardins glove.

The loss drops the NDA’s champs record slips to a miserable 0-1-1. The Bears will need to find a way to win tomorrow against St. Basil. A loss could mean elimination from NOSSA tournament.

“Right now we have to win tomorrow, so we have a shot at advancing. Anything can happen if we win. We have to put the destiny in our own hands and can’t wait for help from other teams,” said Wilson.

The Bears hope to get in the win column Wednesday morning when they take on winless St. Basil's at 9 a.m. at Memorial Gardens.

The Lancers victory assures them a birth in Wednesday's final, which takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens.

Raiders defeat St. Basil's

The short staffed Chippewa Raiders appear to have something good going.

The NDA finalists defeated St. Basil's from the Soo 4-2 on Tuesday night improving to 1-0-1. Matt Connell, Matt Bahm, Nik Priebe and Byron Berger scored for the Raiders.

The Raiders opened the NOSSA tournament with a comeback 7-7 tie against their rivals from Scollard Hall earlier in the day in the opening contest of the NOSSA AAA event.

The Raiders finish off the round robin portion of the tournament with a 11 a.m. game Wednesday morning against Lasalle.